When the National Synchrotron Light Source came online in 1982, it became
one of the world’s most widely used scientific facilities. Across
more than three decades of operation, over 19,000 users conducted experiments using its beams of x-ray, ultraviolet,
and infrared light, leading to many discoveries and two Nobel Prizes.

The following article recapping the history of NSLS design is reprinted from
a 2007 article. That year, NSLS celebrated 25 years of operations and
the U.S. Department of Energy granted Critical Decision 1 status to
NSLS-II, assuring the facility's location at Brookhaven.

The Designers of NSLS

Ever since BNL’s National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) came online
in 1982, it has made possible countless research findings and
breakthroughs in new investigative techniques. Some of the latest of
these were among the topics of the NSLS and Center for Functional
Nanomaterials (CFN) Users’ Meeting held earlier this week. Among other
highlights of the meeting were the CFN ribbon-cutting ceremony and an overview of the plans and designs for NSLS-II, the
proposed next generation light source recently approved by DOE.

From left: Ken Green, Martin Blume, and Renate
Chasman

Now, when intense research and development on NSLS-II is
consuming many accelerator physicists at BNL and elsewhere, it is
appropriate to look back to 1976-77, when two brilliant BNL Accelerator
Department physicists were designing the NSLS. Ken Green, known for his
early work on the Cosmotron and for managing the
Alternating Gradient
Synchrotron (AGS) construction project, was Design Manager. Renate Chasman, who had been the chief theorist for the AGS linac injector, was
Theory Division Head. As principals of a design committee chaired by
Martin Blume, then of the Physics Department [later, BNL Deputy
Director, then American Physical Review Editor-in-Chief 1997-2007] they
worked closely with others including Chalmers Frazer and Dick Watson of
Physics; Jules Godel and Morris Perlman of the Chemistry Department; and
John Blewett, Director’s Office.

Synchrotron radiation is the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a
rapidly moving charged particle when it moves in a curved path. In 1976,
a National Research Council panel funded by DOE’s predecessor, the
Energy Research & Development Administration (ERDA), and the National
Science Foundation to assess its use reported that “structural studies
using synchrotron radiation will have a dramatic impact in biology,
chemistry, and the physical sciences as well as on research and
diagnostic applications relevant to the nation’s energy, environmental,
and communication technologies.”

Martin Blume

In a July 1976 Brookhaven Bulletin article, Blume explained some of
the history of synchrotron radiation, which was first studied at the
turn of the 1900s in connection with the motion of electrons around the
nucleus in an atom. Then, in the 1940s, when electron synchrotrons were
built, it was found that the radiation emitted by the electrons made it
difficult to accelerate them because the radiated energy had to be
replaced.

BNL’s John Blewett, credited as the experimental discoverer of
synchrotron radiation, perceived it during his work at General Electric
just after World War II. His discovery rekindled interest in the topic.
Pioneering experiments in solid state physics were done at Cornell
University and at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS); electron
storage rings, such as SPEAR at Stanford University, followed. The first
machine dedicated to using these rings was an ultraviolet ring at the
University of Wisconsin. By June 1976, when BNL sent ERDA the proposal
to build the NSLS, synchrotron light was being used at Cornell, the NBS,
and SPEAR.

BNL’s 1976 proposal described a facility of two electron storage
rings, which would produce electromagnetic radiation to use in
experiments. The large, 2 GeV ring had provision for about 40 x-ray beam
ports, and the smaller, 700 MeV ring provided for about 16 ultraviolet
beam ports.

The basic accelerator storage rings at the NSLS were innovative
structures capable of very high synchrotron light brightness, which were
to hold the world record for brightness for many years. They were
designed by Chasman and Green, who both died in 1977. At the time of
Green’s death, said Blewett in the Brookhaven Bulletin of August 19,
1977, “Ken was deeply involved in every detail of the NSLS construction,
including magnet design, vacuum technique, electronics, soil mechanics,
building design and staff organization.”

Arie van Steenbergen

In September, Lab Director George Vineyard then named Arie van
Steenbergen Head of the NSLS Construction Project. Renate Chasman died
in October. Blewett commented on her NSLS contributions: “For some time,
Rena and the late Ken Green were the whole team doing this design. The
results of their work were quite remarkable; a design emerged which was
a vast improvement on similar designs being evolved elsewhere in the
world. Other machine designs were based on electron storage rings built
for use in high energy physics. Rena recognized the different
requirements for this machine and devised an arrangement of components
peculiarly suited for use as a light source. Many other problems
associated with the light source and its special components were solved
either by Rena alone or in association with others who later joined the
project.”

The brilliant achievements of Chasman and Green are remembered around
the world. Also, at BNL, the Renate W. Chasman Scholarship for Women is
awarded annually to qualified candidates in science, engineering, or
mathematics.

R&D 100 Awards at NSLS

R&D Magazine gives R&D 100 Awards annually to the top 100
technological achievements of the year. Typically, these are
innovations that transform basic science into useful products.

1986 Researchers from the National Bureau of
Standards and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, win an R&D 100
Award for the development of a soft x-ray emission spectrometer
installed at NSLS.

1988 BNL and the University of Chicago
scientists win an R&D 100 Award for developing an x-ray
microprobe/microscope at NSLS. Researchers from AT&T Bell
Laboratories win an R&D 100 Award for the development of a
high-resolution soft x-ray monochromator at NSLS.

2011 Researchers from Brookhaven and the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in
Australia develop the
Maia x-ray microprobe detector system, which
has been used to image everything from soil deposits to barley
grain, to paintings created by Bertha Lum, Edward Hopper and
Rembrandt.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical,
biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security.
Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry
and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven
Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State
University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory
facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.